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Originally Posted by Seaningtime  awesome!
Ok, now since there needs to be a capacitor, does it really matter where it is as long as it is between the ipod and the source?
I.E. could I just cut the cable in my car and put a capacitor in halfway? Seems much easier than fitting it into the ipod connector, and since it is always in my car it won't be an eyesore
Thanks for the help orange!
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That would work, but I would question how much of an effect this mod would have when you connect it to a car stereo. I suppose you could hear the difference on a very high fidelity system, but IMHO this mod's improvement is subtle enough that it requires careful scrutiny via headphones.
Now if you want to use the line out with the car AND an amp, then adding caps to the car's interconnect is a great idea. I play my iPod through my Camry's aux port, but I just made a male/female IC and use the same short capped LOD that I use with portable amps.
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Originally Posted by XXII I do have a multimeter....but I don't know exactly where to connect it to the 3.5mm plug. If someone could advise...Sorry for my utter ignorance!  |
Just like Qusp said. The tip is left, the ring is right, and the sleeve is ground. FYI, these are called TRS connectors for tip, ring, sleeve. I find it easy to remember by thinking of the sleeve as the base or ground. It seems intuitive to me since it is near the housing of the connector. I dunno why, but that seems to me like the place the ground should be :P Ring and right both have R's, so that one is easy. Which just leave the tip, so that must be left.
Connect your meter from the ground to each channel and measure the offsets on both. Again ~20mV is as much as you want to see. If you see more, those caps probably aren't wired correctly. Even if you see less then 20mV, it doesn't mean they are wired correctly, but it does mean you're unlikely to damage any equipment. They probably ARE wired correctly, but it's usually better safe then sorry
Still, if you open it back up again, take a lot of pictures and show them here. Someone will be able to tell if it is done correctly.
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Originally Posted by RinksCustoms Allow me to elab. Following the picture in the first post for the short & wide Nano where you thought the LOUT/ROUT would be, i attached very small Magnet wire (radioshack), to the DAC side of the caps, ran them to the dock connector, which i then ended up solider bridging about five of the pins, but that's another story. I would love to tell you how well the mod went for me, and how much better the sound output is on my 2.2kW car stereo, but this isn't the case. I think i bricked it pokin around with my O-scope looking for audio near your suspected DAC. And i did find audio, on both sides of the board. I believe i accidentally shorted two pins on the memory chip while the ipod was apart and running, but that was my fault. Read through most of the thread, (149 pages guys?!), and didn't come across any relevant info, so here are at least a few conclusions of where the audio actually is on the board...
See attached pics, hope this helps someone out trying this... They say education costs money.
BTW, Taking suggestions which ipod worked best with this mod, will consider buying a nice one if my nano 4GB doesn't wake back up.
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Is that the new Nano? I don't recall anyone modding one yet, and, yes, I've read this whole thread :P
As to which is best. The 4th gen has room for the caps inside, so that one is popular. The 5th gen can fit them inside too if you replace the HD with a CF card, so that's a plus in it's favor. Those 2 models also contain the Wolfson DAC that is pretty highly regarded. I haven't heard quite as many accolades for some of the DACs Apple has used in more recent models. If I recall correctly, they stopped using Wolfsons after the Videos and 2nd gen Nanos. I'd have to look it up though to be sure.
![Apple iPod nano 8 GB Silver (4th Generation) [Previous Model]](http://cdn.head-fi.org/0/05/50x50px-ZC-05312c52_B001FA1NIC-41S0mUI4EgL.jpg)
I echo what qusp said though. I like the 5.5G for being the last iPod to have survived Apple's crippleware. (I thank God my girlfriend went from a nano 2G 4GB to a 5G 60GB instead of the 7G 120GB, on my advice of course. 
I'm so lucky to have her.) Plus, it has expandable memory, rather, a replaceable hard drive. Look around head-fi and the general interweb for plenty of hard drive swaps taking place in the 5G/5.5G. There's the CF mod, 100GB and 120GB drives, and even the theoretical 240GB hard drive you can try on if you like. Or if you want to kick it old school, the iPod photo has a nice look and feel to it. The world is your oyster. 
